The Deutero-Isaiah Hypothesis

Saturday December 13 2008

If you’ve never heard of the Deutero-Isaiah hypothesis, it’s the modern
belief Isaiah didn’t write the book bearing his name — actually multiple
authors wrote parts and those anonymous authors became compiled much
later into one book called Isaiah. Most commonly, the theory states two
authors wrote the book (less commonly, three authors) as web sites about the theory
frequently state:

In spite of the lack of concrete evidence that any part of Isaiah ever
existed without any other part as far back as the 200’s BC, the dogma
of most scholarship today is that two or more individuals authored
Isaiah. This perspective arose, most notably in the deistic[1]
climate of 18th century Europe. J. C. Doederlein, one of the earliest
to argue for a second author,[2] said explicitly that since Isaiah
could not have forseen the fall of Jerusalem, the 70 year captivity,
the return or Cyrus, Isaiah could not have written those chapters
making such claims (e.g. chapters 40-66). Since this time, others
have advanced arguments in support of dual or even
multiple authorship.

Since the middle chapters (40–66) have a style different from the rest
of the book, the theory holds multiple authors wrote under the Isaiah
name. If you Google for “Deutero-Isaiah Hypothesis” you’ll find many
links, and even books promoting this “scholarly” view.

This is the critical issue — so many scholars have so many theories
(each with hundreds of pages of dissertation), what should a person do?
The problem arises as many of these theories cause people to fall away
from faith, and fail to check out the so-called scholarship for
themselves (after all, who wants to read hundreds of pages of boring PhD
thesis?). But of course, that assumes the validity of their theory —
don’t fall for the lie the PhD’s behind their scholarly writing implies
their bloviating has any truth whatsoever.

In the case of the Deutero-Isaiah hypothesis, it’s pure junk as the
Gospel of John reveals.

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him; That the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spoke, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed? (John 12:37–38 KJV)

A simple quote in John’s gospel. Almost every Bible (and many readers)
recognize the quote as from Isaiah:

Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? (Isaiah 53:1 KJV)

Simple so far, but keep reading in John:

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be
converted, and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah, when he
saw his glory, and spoke of him. (John 12:40–41 KJV)

Not as many people recognize that quote, but it’s from Isaiah 6:

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and convert, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:9–10 KJV)

So we’ve got quotes from both “halves” of Isaiah — chapter six and
fifty-three. But who wrote them? Should we return to the Deutero-Isaiah
hypotheses and spend hours in boring research? Don’t fret over the
authorship of Isaiah, as in between John 12:38 and John 12:40 is
verse 39:

Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again,
(John 12:39 KJV)

Oops. John quotes from both “halves” of Isaiah, and attributes them to
Isaiah. So who wrote Isaiah (all of it)? Isaiah. You don’t need to
waste hours reading hundreds of pages of so-called “scholarship” — John
just told you who wrote Isaiah. If you believe the inspiration of John
as he wrote the authorship of Isaiah is settled (if you don’t believe in
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of the Bible you’ve
frankly got much bigger issues than the authorship of Isaiah).

And thus you can toss the Deutero-Isaiah hypothesis onto the scrap-heap
of pseudo-scholarship once and for all. Don’t waste your time with it —
it doesn’t matter if someone wrote 500 pages espousing the scholarship,
it’s a useless and contradictory position you don’t need to waste your
time with — all the Deutero-Isaiah hypothesis proves is someone hasn’t
read the book they claim to be an expert on.

Just read the book, many times it destroys the so-called “scholarship”
of people claiming to be experts in the book, but in reality simply
failing to read (and understand) the whole of it.

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